Meeting of Commissioners of
Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County, Washington
January 8, 2019
A meeting of Commissioners of Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County was held at the Electric Center, 1200 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, Washington, on Tuesday, January 8, 2019.
Present: President Nancy Barnes, Vice President Jane Van Dyke, Secretary Jim Malinowski Commissioners, CEO/General Manager Wayne Nelson, Director of Operations Dan Krebs, Director of Communications and Employee Resources Lena Wittler, Director of Engineering Cal Morris, Director of Water Doug Quinn, Director of Finance Melissa Ankeny, Director of Energy Resources Dan Bedbury, Director of Customer Service Lisa Fix, Director of Information Services Mike Harris, Corporate Communications Manager Erica Erland, Manager of Energy Planning and Operations Tom Haymaker, Communications Services Manager Heather Allmain, System Operator Jeannie O’Dell, IT Lead Systems Engineer June Olson, Manager of Energy Services Debbie DePetris, Water Quality Manager Dan Charlson, Joint Utilities Specialist Jason Nemjo, Key Account Manager Zeecha Van Hoose, Key Account Manager Bill Hibbs, Key Account Manager Bart Hansen, Senior Manager of Large Industrial/Conservation Planning Larry Blaufus, Environmental Resources Manager Jeff Wittler, Energy Projects Manager Matt Babbitts and Assistant to CEO/General Manager Margaret Anderson.
Press Representatives: None
Others Present: Terry Oliver and Dameon Pesanti – Communications Contractor (Materials A)
At 9:00 a.m., President Barnes called the meeting to order for the transaction of formal business. Commissioner Barnes noted a quorum was present and the agenda (Materials B) was approved as submitted.
Consideration of the Minutes of December 18, 2018
There were no changes or corrections.
Public Comment – Non Agenda Items
There were no comments.
Consideration of Accounts Payable
The board, by a unanimous vote, approved the following payment amounts as listed on the Letter of Transmittal dated January 8, from the District Auditor (Materials C):
Electric Revenue Fund – $41,922,844.92
Water Revenue Fund – $22,950,186.09
Generating System Fund – $5,537,353.81
For a total of $70,410,384.82
Employee Service Award
CEO/General Manager Wayne Nelson introduced Lena Wittler, Director of Communications and Employee Resources. Lena was recognized for 20 years of service (Materials D).
All Star Award Recognition
IT Lead Systems Engineer June Olson, Joint Utilities Specialist Jason Nemjo and Water Quality Manager Dan Charlson were each recognized by their department director as All Star Award recipients.
Washington PUD Association Award Recognition
Environmental Resources Manager Jeff Wittler was recognized in December by the Washington PUD Association with their Good Samaritan Award. Director of Water Doug Quinn provided a summary of the actions taken by Mr. Wittler that proved to be lifesaving. The board thanked Mr. Wittler for his heroic actions that day.
761 Award Recognition
Director of Operations Dan Krebs provided an overview of the 761 Award and then recognized System Operator Jeannie O’Dell as the most recent recipient. This award was also presented posthumously to Water System Operator Al Apana during the employee breakfast in December.
E Source Survey Results
Energy Services Manager Debbie DePetris shared the results of the 2018 E Source Large Business Customer Satisfaction Survey where the Key Accounts team ranked highest of all participating utilities (Materials E).
Consideration of OPower Contract
Energy Projects Manager Matt Babbitts provided the board with an OPower program review (Materials F). Following the review Mr. Babbitts asked the board to approve a contract extension through 2020. Commissioner Malinowski moved to authorize GEO/General Manager Wayne Nelson to sign the contract for effective 2019-2020. Commissioner Van Dyke seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
November Financials
Director of Finance Melissa Ankeny addressed the board (Materials G). November had warmer and drier weather resulting in electric revenues coming in above forecast. Ms. Ankeny reported that system sales were below budget and off system sales were above budget for the month. November residential sales were 93.6% of budget, commercial sales were 101.4% and industrial sales were 99.4% of budget. November ended with net income of $6.5 million compared to a budgeted net income of $2.9 million. Year-to-date net income is $17.7 million ahead of budget. Ms. Ankeny also provided an update on conservation spending year-to-date.
The Water System ended November with 1,057 new customers year-to-date, which is a growth rate of 3.22%. The net income for November was $192,000, compared to a budgeted net income of $37,000. Year-to-date, the Water System net income is $2.8 million ahead of budget.
November Wholesale Operations
Manager of Energy Planning and Operations Tom Haymaker addressed the board (Materials H). Mr. Haymaker updated the board on power supply, noting that Slice performed 4 aMW above prompt month and 12 aMW below budget forecasts. Our monthly loads were 17 aMW below budget forecast. Power prices were stable and strong in November, and gas prices were very volatile.
Mr. Haymaker provided updates on the River Road Generating Plant outage and the financial impacts to November costs due to the Enbridge gas line rupture.
A trading recap was also provided to the board.
Commissioner Reports and Comments
There were no comments.
Staff Reports
Director of Operations Dan Krebs provided a review of outage numbers and restoration activities from the wind storm over the weekend along with a historical comparison of major storms (Materials I).
CEO/General Manager Wayne Nelson report to the board that the E3 report commissioned by the Power Generating Pool (PGP) is complete and available for review. Executive Director Therese Hampton will present a recap of the report at the January 22, 2019 Commission meeting.
Public Comment
There were no comments.
Other Business before the Board
There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 11:00 a.m.